Years of my Youth.
A walk with God (:Archive for June, 2009
Casparian strip
Seriously, if you keep letting your emotions sway you, you’ll never rise to see the light of the day. After seeing you getting your heart lacerated over and over again, i earnestly suggest that you block out what is affecting your studies with the iron resolve you once exerted on yourself. The mid-years is a challenge, because you study with a broken heart and wounded mind. However, if you don’t do well, ultimately you’re the one who is held responsible because you have failed to govern your emotions.
BE STRONG, Zhuo’er!
You can do it.
You MUST do it!
The pleasure of learning
“A marvellous stillness pervaded the world, and the stars, together with the serenity of their rays, seemed to shed upon the earth the assurance of everlasting security. The young moon, recurved, and shining low in the west, was like slender shaving thrown up from a bar of gold, and the Arabian Sea, smooth and cool to the eye like a sheet of ice, extended its perfect level to the perfect circle of a dark horizon.”
Wow, what an arresting extract! A panoramic canvas dense with distinct images is spread out before my startling eyes as the richly atmospheric sense evolves. The lyrical description is profound in its poetic richness, providing a powerful evocation of the wonders of the night.
As i read it aloud and mouth the words in their silky delicacy, i discovered in amazement that an ethereal fragrance permeated the surrounding air, and transported me to the very shoreline of the unperturbed Arabian Sea.
“We see and understand things not as they are but as we are.”
i do wonder who’s the percipient one who made such an astute statement.
After spending grueling days and sleepless nights discussing the above claim in 1600 words, i have to admit that it precisely sums up human perception.
We’re all constructions of biases, prejudices, predispositions… it’s just a matter of degree and intensity.
Even God sees us not as we are (depraved sinners who deserve to be burnt eternally in Hell), but as He is (righteous in Christ Jesus, who is one with Him).
The implications of this claim (the “things” encompass living things, and human beings are living things) don’t hurt if they work for our good. We don’t mind a little favourtism that’s on our side, do we? On the other hand, the story becomes more dramatic and emotive when we become victims of such constructions (we can cry, complain, sue or fight, but it will not obliterate the inherent constructions). It all depends… on how the implications affect us or more blatantly, how they affect “me”.
By now you may have realized, in a sudden flash of lambency, that i’m surprisingly a skeptical relativist and an individualist. That’s hardly Communist, and quite far from the Christian belief too!
Say hi to the nice tolerant solitary
…………..who doesn’t buy your ‘truths’.
Is there an absolute truth?
Your absolute truth may be subjective illusion to me and vice versa.
Your justified true belief may be illogical false delusion to me and vice versa.
Yet again, we’re but specks in the immeasurable Universe, which we will never grasp completely. There may be absolute truth but we (as a united human race)** do not know and may never come to know (some claim that absolute truth exists simply because our minds are capable of conceiving this concept, but that does not provide a satisfying explanation for the nature of its existence, so i don’t buy that).
The hardest thing to swallow about this entire TOKing experience was the realization that i had subconsciously succumbed to the very thing that i despise and furtively revile – conformity. It started with me not thinking too much (foolish acts always start with not thinking enough. Oh my son, THINK!!!), which was the easy way out. If not for a true friend called Timliang who aggressively and mercilessly tore my drafts apart and provided me with the impetus to reflect, i might have drowned myself in the so-called “Blue Ocean”.
Another hard thing to swallow was the realization that my English sucks. i have been deceived that A1s for O Level English and Literature speak volumes for my English standard, but i was wrong. Thanks to another true friend Audrey, an ex English SL students, who ended up correcting grammar for a HL English student…
It’s about time Zhuo’er, to use your brain.
As you exercise pragmatism and practicality, remember not to throw your discernment and originality into the wind.
Give your best to play with and conquer the system now, but more importantly, do not let it get into your System.
** My faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is not so weak that it cease to stand just because of some thought provoking TOK assignment.
i still firmly believe through faith that He was, is and will always be the absolute truth.
Then again, i’m more aware of the harsh reality, the odds against evangelism in the age of science, reason and information.
How do i share the gospel with an agnostic when i would become one myself if i were to think so much?
ONLY by the Spirit of God.
Therefore, my dear brother or sister in Christ, i pray that you pray for us that we’ll be Spirit-filled, for it takes miracles that defy logic and reason (they are actually grossly limited in their capabilities to perceive knowledge, just that society deceives us into believing that they are pretty invincible) to bring the lost to the Truth which we claim to be true.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
